Final Year Project 1 - Pre-Production
This post will be the most substantive as I feel the majority of my best work was conducted in this period as producer.
In late January of this year, I met with Sam and Beth for lunch following class to discuss a possible role for me on Under the Gorse (UTG). By this point, I had reached out to 5 or 6 groups asking whether they had a place for another assessable producer on their shoots, but had no luck. Sam and Beth were kind enough to consider me for a role on their film, and I was as honest as possible about what I could bring to the table as a producer.
It was clear to me that UTG was ambitious, with the use of 16mm film and child actors immediately presenting their own challenges. As a producer, I would have to monitor the mode-specific costs and risks associated with shooting on film, as well as the legal working requirements that would have to be constantly upheld with child actors as outlined in Annex 2 of the Child Performance Working Hour Limits. I was interested in this challenge, and found the vibe of the script intriguing in its fantastical, dreamlike presentation. Shooting in Glencoe in the Highlands also drew me to this film; having grown up there, it was an exciting prospect to return there for a near-professional level film project.
Sam and Beth welcomed me aboard, I was delegated a number of responsibilities from the outset, so it was clear there was a place for me on this project. The shoot scheduling window was nearing completion by the time I joined, and so my first task was scheduling the shoot. Sam and myself decided that because of our organisational needs, we should be one of the last shoots. We decided on our five day shooting schedule to run from the 16th to the 20th of March.
I began emailing potential locations in Glencoe, getting in touch with Elaine and Ros who own the Green Pool in Glencoe. They normally charge £200 per day of filming at their location, but I was able negotiate this cost down to £150 with the added bonus of Crowdfunder promotion on their Facebook page with over 28,000 followers. I am proud of this success, as I feel I managed so save money in our budget that could be vitally used elsewhere while earning us money on our growing Crowdfunder. Other locations proved problematic however, such as Blackmount lodge (a large estate owner), who were steadfast on their daily charge of £2500 for any production, and so we had to withdraw our application.
I worked with Film Edinburgh to get permission to film on Craiglockhart and Blackford Hill, with caveats that the Blackford hill crew would have to be less than five people, and that we had to shoot on the same day. This would be a bit of a struggle due to the distance between the locations, but we still had toilets and green rooms nearby both locations that made it more viable. There is a fixed fee of £69 for each days filming with a crew of over 10 people, so we factored that into the budget and paid it promptly.
A learning experience I’d take forward from my work with locations would be to consider location releases and formal permission forms during my conversations with them. I learnt after the shoot that I had forgotten to bring physical location releases to locations to be physically signed by those I had been in contact with. This means I now have to rely on digitally signable documents which may or may not get back to me by the time of my submission of deliverables. This is disappointing, as it’s something I should’ve been more on top of, regardless if we have an extensive digital paper trail with written permission, it was not professional to overlook this vital documentation.
Another location we needed was a train station, but getting access to this proved to be impossible. I got in touch with Scotrail, and sent them a comprehensive location request form for the train station at North Queensferry, even attaching a risk assessment. I also requested permission to film a short sequence aboard the train from North Queensferry to Edinburgh, which would be a short travelling sequence with the children looking out the window. They got back to me, saying they would be in touch soon with confirmation of our permission or lack thereof, but I didn’t hear from them for two weeks. As it was approaching our shoot window, I got in touch again and was told that they’d follow my request up promptly. They didn’t, so a few days later I phoned Scotrail customer service with the name of the person I have been emailing and details of our request, only to be put on hold and subsequently hung up on. This happened several times, each time I was transferred to a different customer service person, and so the trail died there. I sent my contact one last email but never received a response. I think it’s safe to say we weren’t going to get permission; they were likely frightened by the prospect of students filming aboard a train, and perhaps thought we’d end up filming some Train to Busan-type sequence aboard one of their trains. I’d approach this differently next time, perhaps starting with the train station before moving to the train itself, as this was quite a big ask for any production. I’m glad to have learned from this experience, however.
I had to book all the kit for this shoot, and Sam provided me with a list of the minimum amount of kit that we’d need to make it work. I made the skeleton kit booking, which in itself was 54 pieces of equipment and waited for Sam’s call on the remainder of the kit. I made mistakes with the second booking, as I was stressed with workload of compiling final risk assessments at the time, but was also only given 5 days’ notice before the first day of the shoot. There is shared blame on this issue, and I admit my own lack of complete understanding of SISO, as I had only booked kit as a producer one other time. Regardless, myself and Sam were able to push through, apologise to the stock room and technical staff, and get nearly all of the kit Sam wanted for the shoot in the end, around 72 separate pieces of kit all in all. I’ve learned from my mistake here, and will guarantee better planning and communication when it comes to kit for the next shoot I’m involved in.
We conducted a recce up Wester Craiglockhart hill, for which I put together a small risk assessment. I was sadly unable to attend this recce due to seeing family, but it was creatively beneficial for Sam to view the location in person. Sam was able to visualise crucial elements such as the meteorite in place on a bunker up the hill, as well as reporting back to me any Health and Safety concerns presented by the rough path up the hill. We would have to move heavy kit and props up this path, so it helped me complete my risk assessments for this location with confidence.
We were uncertain of whether we’d need a Child Entertainment License for this film, as it was a 6 day shoot which would mean the children would inevitably miss school. It was my job to conduct research into this issue, applying for a child entertainment license if necessary. There were problems with Child Entertainment Licenses, such as the need to apply for them at least 21 days in advance, and the need for a distinct license in each region. This would mean we would likely need a license for Fife, Edinburgh, and Highland regions to make our film viable. This would be costly and very time consuming, as we would need sections with contracts, risk assessments, birth certificates – documents that did not yet exist. Sections needed to be filled out by a headteacher, chaperone, mother, and there were nearly one hundred written details for us to fill out with details of our production to even be considered for a license.
I started researching alternatives right away, and found some details that could save us a lot of hassle. I read the entirety of the Children and Young Persons Act 1963, in which I found section 27 and 37 (3), which read that a license was not required if: • The child is not being paid for their performance and • The child has not performed in a paid production for three days in a row in the last 6 months. Getting in touch with the children’s parents, we found that neither of the children had worked for more than three days in a row in the last six months, and so we did not qualify as a professional production and did not therefore require a child entertainment license legally. We still had to abide by the working hours laws as set out in the law, however. Since our youngest actor was 9 and her sister 13, they both required the same working hours limitations. They could attend set for 9.5 hours per day, and perform for a maximum of 4 hours. These hours had to be in the window of 0700 and 2300. They would need a break of at least 15 minutes after every hour of performing or rehearsing. They would require a food break of not less than 1 hour if they were present for more than 3.5 consecutive hours, with a second hour long break due after 8 hours on set. It was my job to monitor this throughout production, and so I kept on track of time with these details in my notebook for the duration of the shoot.
Casting was also part of my responsibilities, and I was responsible for casting the role of Father and Farmer. With less than a week before the shoot and no prospects in sight after my post on social media, despite 300 likes and 200 shares, I took initiative by reaching out to individual actors to fill these roles. I had previously auditioned David for a role on my prior film Connection, and managed to recall his contact details before reaching out to request a self-tape for the Farmer role. He was chuffed that I reached out and his self-tapes were endearing, dressed in Farmer gear from head to toe, and so I cast him in the role. I helped organise his travel to and from Glencoe, where his scenes would be shot, and also his transport to and from our booked accommodation.
I also cast Michael Reddington, a current MA Acting student at Napier, who I had been impressed by when viewing the 3rd year’s films last year. I reached out to 3rd years that had worked with him, got his contact details and sent him an email inquiry. Sam, myself, and Michael chatted for nearly two hours in a Zoom call about the role, and Michael voiced his disappointment in not knowing about the shoot more than 5 days in advance as he really liked the script. As part of his craft, he wanted to spend more time as the character working with the script. He was regardless happy to work on the film, and we cast him without much deliberation. Going forward and taking Michael’s position as a learning experience, I will make it more of a priority to be cast well ahead of time so that actors can work to the best of their abilities, and also so we can focus on other pressing issues prior to production other than casting.
Risk assessments were also my responsibility, and I was under a lot of pressure to get these completed prior to kit pickup on Friday. Annie was a great help in getting these finalised, and I found I had a lot to learn about composing risk assessments. I now have a fool proof system for completing them, with delegated risks that will always be there for internal locations and external locations respectively. Sam secured permissions for four new Glencoe locations soon before our shoot, to my excitement at the successful confirmation of all needed Glencoe locations, but also my chagrin at the realisation that this meant four new risk assessments. I got to work, and with only two days left, completed all the required risk assessments, which were then confirmed by Paul, prior to the shoot. All in all, with ten potential locations, I had to make ten wholly unique risk assessments for the shoot. Each day we would have different responsible members of the crew, different ground underfoot, weather potentialities, nearby bodies of water, and countless other risks to consider when completing these assessments, making it a significant challenge for me. It was also a valuable learning experience for me, however, and I now know risk assessments inside out. I am confident for my next role as a producer when hopefully my honed documentation skills will help streamline this part of pre-production.
I am proud of what I have achieved as a producer during pre-production on Under the Gorse, and can confidently say that the film would not exist without my help. I have learned a lot in what I feel was a very challenging role, but have overcome many hurdles initially presented, and feel like a stronger filmmaker for it. The team around me was very supportive and encouraging, and I felt comfortable expressing my own ideas and communicating with them throughout, which was a big help. In my next post I will discuss the shoot, which presented its own set of challenges.